WATCH: Delhi Shocker As Nigerian Brutally Beaten

They dress skimpily, play loud music, drink in public and create ruckus. They sell drugs and are a bad influence. If they stay in India any longer, even the Indian youth will get spoilt. This is a common sentiment held by most locals in neighbourhoods with African population.

On Monday, 9 October, shocking visuals of a Nigerian national tied to a pole in south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar being beaten up by locals for an alleged theft, turned up.

The details of the circumstances are sketchy at the moment and more information is awaited.

The government is denying racism, but the video is a testament to the fact that racism is real and happening in India. The law is there, why didn’t the people call the police whose responsibility it is to protect us? Why take justice in their own hands? The point is we are not secure.

Another member of the association, Lawrence, said:

How can these incidents happen in modern India? People talk of humanity, but where is it? We are doubting that philosophy now. This is jungle raj, how can there be place for this in modern India? Would this have happened if he were a white person or a Westerner? We don’t want such gifts from India, we want good gifts from India.

According to NDTV, the incident took place two weeks ago when the man was caught outside a local resident’s house. The man was then handed over to the police in a horrible, beaten state.

According to the report, he was barely conscious. Local residents, however, claimed he fell down the stairs when he was trying to escape.

In the video, the man is seeing pleading the mob to stop. In the background, a crowd of people gathered are heard asking the mob to hit him harder.

After being treated, he was reportedly presented in court and a judge sent him to jail. However, the fact that he was brutally beaten came to light only after the video emerged on Monday afternoon.

So far there is no FIR. We are verifying the video and other details. We will register a case after verification. We have not received any formal complaint on this incident.

Another Delhi Police spokesperson confirmed that a case was registered against the Nigerian national for attempted burglary on 24 September, and he was arrested.

This is not the first instance of violence against African nationals in the capital. There were multiple cases reported of African nationals being assaulted in various parts of Delhi-NCR earlier this year.

In March this year, a Nigerian student was attacked in Greater Noida, some 40 kilometres from Delhi, following protests over the death of a Class 12 student of a residential colony there due to drug overdose. Some people who were holding a candle-light vigil for the student attacked the Nigerians suspecting them of having drugged the student.

Following this, Nigeria summoned the Indian envoy in Abuja to express displeasure over the attacks on Nigerian students in India and voiced concern that the incident was not the first of its kind.

The government and the police deny a racist angle and term the attacks “minor scuffles” and “isolated incidents”. But, we found deep bigotry and racism.